# DipABRSM



## Lorem Ipsum (Feb 3, 2011)

I'm taking my DipABRSM, I've decided, and today, my teacher and I decided on the pieces that I was going to take for it. Bear in mind that I have to perform for 35 minutes solid, give or take 10%.

Anyway, the pieces we chose were:

- Beethoven, Sonata in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (app. 20 mins)
- Ravel, Sonatine (app. 10 mins)
- Debussy, La plus que lente (app. 3 mins)
- Gershwin, The Man I Love (app. 2 mins)
- Bach, Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (app. 5 mins)
- Mozart, Sonata in C Major, K. 309 (app. 15 mins)

Now, this is quite a broad variety of periods and styles and keys. But, when I went home and researched them all, I realised that there was a major problem.

The Beethoven lasts for approximately twenty minutes, and the Mozart for fifteen. This leaves me /no/ time for any of the other pieces, which of course, is a bad thing. So I'm looking for a bit of guidance - I'm considering cutting the Beethoven due to it being romantic and me having two other romantic pieces, whilst the exam calls for a "generalistic programme", but I actually adore the piece and it would be a great shame to cut it.

Argh, help!


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## Furiianda (Feb 6, 2011)

Quick google shows me that the sonata is 4 movements, apparently. Can't you just play your favourite one or something {:
Also those approximate times are _totally approximate_, and you should time yourself playing them if you haven't already!
If you don't want to do just a movement I think you should just cut it entirely, since, well, it's really long. You can always perform it another time if you really like it but yeah ): even though the romantic era is super special awesome, the examiners totally don't like you to play everything from it. And you get all these shiny extra marks for playing the styles from a variety of time periods correctly :D!


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## Lorem Ipsum (Feb 6, 2011)

You have to play the entire sonata unfortunately. And if the approx. times are professional pianists playing those pieces, so I doubt it would be appropriate to play them quicker than that. I've got a solution though: swap Op. 2 for the Moonlight Sonata (which is on the syllabus thankfully), giving me an extra five minutes, and then switch out Mozart for a shorter piece of his, perhaps, which gives me time to play the other pieces too.


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## Furiianda (Feb 7, 2011)

Yes, that doesn't sound like a bad plan, provided you still have the variation just cutting Beethoven would give you.
Too bad about the movements, but it makes sense too. 
As for "the approximate times are professionals", I don't quite agree, I mean it's not like every professional will play the same, right?  Depending on how strictly defined all the tempos are written (I totally can't be bothered looking it up for all of them) it's probably not all that accurate, still... but up to you. Timing is just nice for being extra-extra sure and also just for more practice, or even an imagine-this-is-your-recital thing... for all I know your times could be within ten seconds of all of the approximate ones anyway, so yeah. Ehm.
Anyway, great that you found a replacement (<3 moonlight sonata), and good luck!


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